World News
WHO likely to declare Ebola an international emergency
The World Health Organization (WHO) should and is likely to declare an international emergency over the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has now spread to Uganda, experts said as a WHO advisory panel met on Friday. Congo's epidemic is the second worst worldwide since West Africa's Ebola outbreak in 2014-16, with 2,084 cases and 1,405 deaths since being declared in August. The WHO said on Thursday that two people had died in Uganda having arrived with...
Iran’s Rouhani says U.S. actions threaten Middle East stability
U.S. actions pose a serious threat to stability in the Middle East, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told the leaders of a China-led security bloc including Russia and India on Friday. The United States blamed Iran for attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday that drove up oil prices and raised concern about a new U.S.-Iranian confrontation. Iran denied any connection with the attacks. Rouhani did not mention the attacks but focussed his criticism on U.S....
China’s May industrial output growth cools to 17-year low as trade war escalates
China's economy flashed more warning signs in May as the United States ramped up trade pressure, with industrial output growth unexpectedly slowing to a more than 17-year low and investment cooling, underlining a need for more stimulus. Despite a slew of support measures since last year, China's economy is still struggling to get back on firmer footing, and investors fear a longer and costlier trade war between the world's two largest economies could trigger a global recession. Industrial output grew...
Accused Christchurch gunman pleads not guilty to all charges
An Australian man pleaded not guilty on Friday to 92 charges stemming from a massacre in two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch three months ago and will stand trial in May next year. A lone gunman armed with semi-automatic weapons attacked Muslims attending Friday prayers in Christchurch on New Zealand's South Island on March 15, killing 51 people in the country's worst peace-time mass shooting. The attacker broadcast the shooting live on Facebook. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern...
Trump lauds meeting with ‘Prince of Whales’
U.S. President Donald Trump lauded his own diplomacy on Thursday with royalty and foreign leaders, but mistakenly cast the heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, as the "Prince of Whales". "I meet and talk to 'foreign governments' every day. I just met with the Queen of England (U.K.), the Prince of Whales, the P.M. of the United Kingdom, the P.M. of Ireland, the President of France and the President of Poland," Trump tweeted. "We talked about 'Everything!' Should I...
Trump – Nothing wrong with accepting dirt from foreign governments on opponents
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would see nothing wrong in accepting damaging information on a U.S. political opponent if it were offered to his re-election campaign by a foreign government. Asked in an interview with ABC News if he would accept the information or alert the FBI, Trump said: "I think maybe you do both. I think you might want to listen, there's nothing wrong with listening." "If somebody called from a country, Norway, 'we have information on...
France’s Le Pen unveils new far-right European Parliament group
France's Marine Le Pen unveiled a new far-right group in the European Parliament on Thursday, uniting eurosceptics from across the continent who aim to devolve power from Brussels back to capitals. Calling itself the Identity and Democracy (ID) group, the new alliance brings together Le Pen's National Rally, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini's League party and Germany's Alternative for Germany (AfD) plus nationalists from Austria, Finland and Denmark, among others. "We have changed the political chessboard of the European...
Putin says U.S.-Russia relations are getting ‘worse and worse’
President Vladimir Putin said relations between Moscow and Washington were getting worse and worse, noting in an interview published on Thursday that the current U.S. administration had imposed dozens of sanctions on Russia. Putin made his gloomy assessment ahead of a G20 summit in Japan later this month at which he might meet U.S. President Donald Trump. U.S.-Russia ties remain strained by everything from Syria to Ukraine as well as allegations of Russian interference in U.S. politics, which Moscow denies....
Iran supreme leader says they have no intention to make or use nuclear weapons
Iran has no intention of making or using nuclear weapons, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying on Thursday by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. "Supreme Leader Khamenei made a comment that the country will not and should not make, hold or use nuclear weapons, and that it has no such intentions," Abe told reporters in Tehran following his meeting with Khamenei. Abe's comment was broadcast on Japanese public broadcaster NHK. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas is...